The Osceola times., 1887-04-23
sEWlNG.WoMEN,S WAGES.
The Low Wages Paid by Clothing Manu-
fscturers In Large Cities.


"yest we have been cut down shame
fully in the past four or five years, and I
am not able to make a living alone now"
said an old lady that lives In the fifth floor
Of Third street tenement house TO
Cincinnati Times reporter the other morn.
ing. She has been making pants and
vests for wholesale clothers here for
fifteen years, as she has been a widow for
a number Of years and by hard work has
succeeded in raising three daughters and
two sons.
"You still work at the businessl' asksi
the reporter.
''Oh, yes, for I get along better than
used to, as my girls are now old enough TO
help me, but If l hal TO do IL alone, as l
did when we were paid more, l would be
swamped. No one of US could make liv-
ing now, but it costs no more 10 keep us
now than formerly, and tho four OF u.s.
make, and manage to get along very well"
"What prices are you getting nowr
"Here are some pants" and the old lady
with locks that have long since told the
story Of life's winter by their whiteness,
handed the writer pair Of jeans pants Of
the cheapest quality, "that am making
for one dollar dozen, or eight and ono
third cents apiece"
show many pairs Of these can you mako
in a day by working ten hoursm
mot more than three pairs to save my
soul, and you can readily see that no fami-
ly like mine could exist on twenty five
cents day. But want TO be fair with
you. When was young expect l could
make five or six pairs IL worked as fast
as could and did nothing else, but in
those days | got s. 80 and So a dozen for
h.,. r1r th,o rfsla opl
myself, by denying them every priv
ilege of going out and all OF us living as
slaves we are able to make about SIC
week, as we turn out about l5) pairs, or
twelve dozen, every Saturday night"
"Are these the lowest pr.ces you know
of"
"No, I know OF a woman that is making
about tho same quality of work as this
and is only getting ninety cents for q
dozen pairs"
"Different firms may vary in pricesr
eyes, they do. There is all the differ
ence in the world in the firm one works
for. Now / know of some that will find
fault with every thing, and will put of
paying their sewing women as long as
possible. Why, / know of one firm that
would not allow the women that worked
for them TO enter their store at the public
entrance. Now, / just come out fiat
footed and told HIM that IL | wasn't good
enough to walk in the same door other
people did | wasn't good enough TO sew
on his pants"
"In which is there the most money
coats, pants or vestsin
IL can do better with pants. Vests
would do very well If it was not for the
button-holes 10 make in them But coats,
there is mighty little in them, tell you.
There is a good deal Of work TO make
coats. How people can sew them for
dollar q dozen can't understand"
"Don't the manufacturers pay according
to the amount Of workn
"No, they seem to pay according TO tho
| quality OF the goods, but they require just
as good and as much work on the cheap
| goods as on the more expensivep
"Then prices are getting lower all the
timcl"
"Yes, for work that we used to get 81,
9.25, $3.50 and So we now get from % cents
to sl.75